Tampa Real Estate—Shift Happens
by Anna Wannos
The Tampa real estate market is experiencing a shift. From the first time my husband and I began even thinking about buying a house 5 years ago until now, we have witnessed a market of ups, downs, and all-arounds. Needless to say, our hopes and dreams of owning have mirrored those real estate shifts. We began our union not being ready to own, then felt caught up in the massive movement to buy out of fear of ever-rising prices, purchasing something just to lock in the current price. Knowing that it was morally unacceptable to take a loan that would deem us “house poor”, we decided not to buy anything, revolting against the seller’s market. From there, we gave up hope of ever owning in the Tampa Bay area.
Here we are in 2009 and Tampa real estate is once again affordable to us lowly first time homebuyers and great homes are now very much worthy of our mortgage payment. Our hopes and dreams of owning a slice of real estate in Tampa are rekindled.
Our serious search for real estate in Tampa began approximately two months ago with the help our agent Rick Durand from Kings Realty. In the beginning, we thought that a townhouse would be best because we are not the “outdoorsy” type that will make time to mow lawns or landscape. We preferred to just pay someone else to keep our lawn under control. A townhouse also seemed generally larger and more solid than most condos in the Tampa real estate market. Tampa is inundated with apartment to condo conversions, which in my humble opinion seem more akin to weakly constructed gingerbread houses. Our search for a respectable townhouse proved prosperous and our agent showed us all the deals in our preferred area of Land O’ Lakes. The townhouses are newer and built in underdeveloped areas where wilderness conservation lots are the norm.
In this Tampa real estate market the buyer can be picky. We wanted to see all our options and our agent was happy to oblige us with that request. Continuing in Land O’ Lakes, we found a neighborhood of villas in our price range and quickly made an offer on a short sale property. We loved the solid block construction and no lawn work that the villa offered as well as the great open floor plan and established neighborhood. We are getting everything we wanted without having to sacrifice any of the items on our wish list. Traditionally, owning a piece of Tampa real estate meant giving up at least one of your wants and desires like location, a larger master bedroom, or lots of closet space. We sacrificed nothing and frankly are getting everything we wanted and more. This was made possible only because of a savvy Tampa real estate agent like Rick Durand who navigated around this saturated market where the well-qualified buyer is king, or queen, and is helping us purchase a home. He knew when a property’s listed price was not so much of a deal but rather an attempt to drum up offers that would yield nothing but a long wait with a “no” at the end of the line.
We have watched the Tampa real estate market change more in the last five years than it has in the 20 years prior which just proves, much to the chagrin of some, that shift does indeed happen.
